We All Receive More Than We Deserve The parable of the landowner and the laborers hired to work in his vineyard is, on one level, about abundance. The landowner had a large enough vineyard that he needed to hire laborers repeatedly throughout the day to get the work done. As evening approached and the men lined up for their pay, [...]
Dear brothers and sisters, Today the Word of God speaks to us about one of the most difficult but most important aspects of Christian life: forgiveness. We all know how difficult it can be to forgive someone who has hurt us, disappointed us, or offended us. Yet Jesus makes forgiveness an essential part of following Him. In the Gospel, Peter [...]
Forgive From the Heart I’m not sure what I was up to when I was a kid but I recall having frequent cuts and scrapes that required my body to produce scabs. My mom told me not to pick at them to avoid scars but to my childhood mind, scars were irrelevant. More interesting were these scratchy patches on my [...]
Today’s readings invite us to reflect on responsibility, correction, forgiveness, and commitment within our Christian community. Because of our human weakness and sinfulness, we all need God’s mercy and forgiveness. We turn with confidence to God, our loving Father, knowing that just as we are bound to Him in love, we are also bound to one another. Our faith is [...]
Take Up Your Cross Dear Jesus, in this season, as in many before, I have felt so distant from You. My cross can feel overbearing. While I should be grateful for my family, I am most commonly the opposite. I feel starved for attention and respite, bitter at the need to be constantly humble. I react with anger and impatience [...]
The readings today invite us to reflect on faithfulness. Faithfulness means remaining true to God, to our commitments, and to our vocation, especially when it becomes difficult. It is easy to be faithful when everything is going well; the real test comes when following God requires sacrifice. In the first reading, Jeremiah discovers the cost of being faithful to his [...]
Pleasing Sacrifice Today is my 31st birthday and though I still believe I am young in my mind, my body is certainly feeling every year I add to my life. Gray hairs start sprouting from my beard, weird aches and pains come out of nowhere, and general forgetfulness or fatigue are all signs of growing another year older. Birthdays are [...]
During the week, I walked to the construction site and met some men from Ameren who were working to connect the gas line from the main pipe to our new parish hall. They were checking whether the pressure was sufficient. One of them, who was Catholic, asked me if I was the pastor. When I said yes, we began talking [...]
Give Thanks to the Lord With All Your Heart It’s hard to believe, but summer is winding down already. It seems like just yesterday that the snow was finally behind us and my kids were actually ASKING to go outside, instead of us telling them to. It was as if the higher temperatures and sunshine beckoned us out to take [...]
The readings of this Sunday deal with the way people treat foreigners and strangers. We are always surrounded by foreigners, as they were at the time when the prophet Isaiah was writing. The question before him was whether foreigners should also share in God’s salvation. Isaiah gave a clear answer: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for [...]